Life's End
by GearSolidSnake
Summary: With the rest of his squad gone, Private is left alone to drown in fear as he breaths his last. One-Shot. *Character death*


The final hit came crashing upon the youngest penguin's face. He collapsed to the ground, whimpering on his back.

His vision was blurred as the shadowy figures moved above him. The last blow left Private slipping onto the brink of unconsciousness.

He closed his eyes and grimaced. He expected to be struck again. However, nothing came. This made him all the more afraid.

His frail body shook violently on the ground. He was too afraid to stand up; too afraid of being beaten again and again until thrown back viciously onto the concrete. The ground was safe. It was the only comfort left in his life.

But the ground was submission. It was his way of surrendering. Whatever would happen, Private just wished it would not be painful.

He half heard the muffled discussions of those around him.

His innocent mind asked itself desperately what was happening. The entire ordeal happened so spontaneously and viciously, his mind couldn't reach a conclusion to match.

They were bigger than he was. They were much stronger.

He hoped they wouldn't do anything more to him.

This brutality was foreign to him. His mentality kept him too innocent. The good guys win, the bad guys lose. In the end, everyone is relatively okay. It was like a game. No one ever really died. He didn't believe anyone _could_ die. True, some of his own missions narrowly teetered on life or death, but they always came out okay.

Now, he was not sure. He couldn't imagine anyone being that cruel. Why would anyone kill another living thing?

Tears streamed down his face.

Private was terrified.

He scanned his surroundings. To his right, he saw two other black and white shapes laying on the ground. They were motionless.

He recognized the closer, who was laying on his side facing away from the youngster, to be Kowalski. The one laying on his stomach further away had to be Rico.

"K-K-..." Private chocked on his words. "K'walski?" he called out. His plea seemed to have been directed towards the universe itself. He just needed to know if he was okay; a sign, a signal, a breath, anything.

He's just unconscious! Yeah, that's it! The cycle's still there. They won't die. This will just be like the other times where his squad gets captured only to eventually break free and save the day. Everything will be okay.

Then he noticed Rico.

His eyes were still open.

There was red on the ground around them.

Two of the only people in this life Private considered his family were gone. Dead. They just... died...

He cried silently. He sobbed, rocking on the ground. This wasn't fair. They were a team! They always won in the end! It can't end like this! It just... can't. It's unfair.

He was the only one alive.

His blood still marred his chest and face. His body was a mess of open wounds and deep cuts. The only taste in his mouth was that of his own coppery blood.

The pain on the outside of his body was nothing compared to that in his heart.

A shadow covered him. He whimpered instantly.

"Well well, PEN-GOO-IN! It appears that I have finally bested you!" Dr. Blowhole, the maniacal dolphin boasted. "As you can see, you'll be joining your friends soon while I'll be-!"

"Oh shut up one eye," a familiar voice shouted.

Blowhole recoiled in shock, "How dare you mock me while I'm monologing?! Do you know how rare this is?! How many times will I have an opportunity to boast in front of my enemies on their deathbed, hmm? Zero! I've been practicing!"

"Give it a rest bottle face. Don't you have some world domination thingy to be doing?" Hans the puffin replied, now waddling towards the young penguin. He was locked in a deep gaze at the beaten body of Private. He seemed hardly entrenched with Blowhole's childish complaints.

"It's bottle_NOSE!_ I'm a bottle_NOSE_ dolphin. And fine! Just make it quick. Tick-tock, tick-tock, time is world domination," he remarked as he hovered away on his levitating scooter.

The puffin crouched alongside Private. Private cringed and brought his arms closer to his body. His face was still an ugly mess of scars, blood, and tears. Hans really wished he had a camera on him at the moment to document this.

"Of all the penguins, I never thought you'd be the last one alive," he said in a hostile tone, "The others drop dead before they hit the ground, yet Here. You. Are."

Private had no words to say. He only prayed silently that he wouldn't hurt him again. The pain was too much now.

"You know what? Even now with all your comrades dead, I can't see a single hint of anger or vengeance in your eyes. You really are the weakest one, aren't you? Not to mention, you're the biggest fruitcake if I've ever seen one."

He shook his head, "I bet if somehow you got all your strength back, you wouldn't even hit me. You'd just run away."

He raised a wing which caused Private to recoil. He shielded his face with his flippers, closed his eyes, and whimpered aloud. The puffin laughed maniacally at this.

"Hans! That's enough!"

The puffin turned back to the source.

Private's leader and father figure stood behind the cynical puffin.

"Oh, I see. You want to be the one to finish him off. Aww, that's so sweet. Skipper, I never took you for the sentimental type."

The two exchanged places as Hans bumped his shoulder into Skipper's.

The leader then replaced his look of disgust for Hans to that of sympathy and tenderness for his last squad mate.

"Private..." Skipper strained to say. This was difficult.

Private tried his hardest not to cry. He didn't want to seem weak in front of his leader. His training had to account for something.

"Uhm... I'm-... I'm sorry for the way things turned out."

Private only could ask himself why. Why did this happen? Why is Skipper helping Blowhole and Hans? Why did he kill Rico and Kowalski?

"Skippah," Private croaked. He could feel traces of blood coming from his beak.

"Y-yes?"

"Why are you doing this?" His tears were flowing more freely now.

Skipper sighed as he looked to the ground. "I can't tell you," was his heartless reply.

Private sobbed aloud. He felt betrayed by this response. Even to his only friend who now lay on his deathbed, Skipper was a soldier to the core. He was tough, brave, courageous; everything Private failed to be. If their positions were switched, Skipper would have saved everyone. Private liked to believe so.

Private had to guess on his own why this was happening.

Was Skipper joining Blowhole and Hans? Did he really turn evil?

Then the idea came that this was mind control or something like that. That was too far stretched.

Private tried to believe that this was all for something good. He _wanted_ to believe Skipper was the good person he imagined him to be. Is he being a spy? Maybe he is trying to gain their trust. Maybe that's why he helped them kill Kowalski and Rico. This was all for show!

Private did not think this was true, but he forced himself to believe that. He wanted to die knowing that his death was going to help in some way.

His death...

The very thought made him ball like an infant. He sobbed, body shaking on the hard ground.

He did not want to die. It was terrifying: the idea of leaving this world and entering only darkness. He could cease to exist.

"S-skippah?"

"Yes, Private?" Skipper struggled to say.

"D-do you... do you think there's someplace after we die?" he chocked. His shivering caused his words to utter out in staccato.

"Private..." The penguin commander dried his eyes with his flipper before they even began to water. "If there is, you'll end up on the better end of it." He couldn't afford to tell his only soldier that he did not believe in such nonsense.

Private weakly smiled.

"You have a good heart, Private. Out of all of us, you deserved this the least."

Private never heard his leader talk like this. He was always to strong; so blunt. Skipper's words were more heartfelt than he could have imagined.

"I don't want to die," Private said, the words straining.

Skipper breathed heavily. He struggled to show no emotion.

"Come on! Do none of you know the sanctity of time?!" Blowhole shouted. Private looked back to his right to see Kowalski and Rico dragged away by the evil dolphin's henchmen.

Hans came over, "The big guy's getting impatient. Whatever you're doing, hurry it up." At this, he held out something with both wings. It was a Colt 1908 pistol. It was the only one small enough to be relatively penguin sized. Skipper took the weapon.

He waddled gravely back over to Private.

Upon seeing the handgun, Private whimpered fiercely. With every ounce of strength, he tried to move away. The cuts on his back and flippers opened wider. He cared not. His only concern was for the object in Skipper's flippers.

He was terrified of guns. Even on the television, he could hardly stand the sight of them.

Skipper racked the slide back until he heard a sickening _click._

Private shook his head. Anything would be better. Even if it was more painful, anything would be better. He knew a bullet wouldn't sting, but it would leave him as an awful mess.

Skipper pointed the gun towards the closest thing he had to a son.

Private closed his eyes. He cried aloud as tears ran down his face.

_"I don't want to die"_

_**BANG**_

* * *

I apologize to all of you Private fans. This was tough to write. This came rushing into my head and, like all my other one shots, I had to sprint to the computer and write it all down in one sitting.

This is loosely based off the opening scene to _Kill Bill: Volume 1_.

ANYWAY, Hello Penguins of Madagascar fans! I originally had another story in the works for my debut into the fandom I once had lone before ever hearing of FanFiction or Regular Show, which is now my flagship fandom. And yes, I am always this brutal with my stories.

I have two (or three) stories in the works: a comedy (shocker), _possibly_ spy-spoof that may or may not be set in world war two, and an angst/romance based one with Private. He is my favorite character in the show. I love the innocence factor and that he is relatively underwhelmed and underwritten. He has so much potential.

So, feel free to leave a review and let me know what you think or possibly check out my other works.

As always, thank you so much for the read.

PS. I don't like the name. If possible, can someone PM me a better title for this story? Thank you.


End file.
